How much weight does Google give to Exact Match Domains?
-
I'm building a site on a virtual host and now it's ready to go online, but i still have to choose a domain name.
One of the main keywords i want to rank for is a 3-word keyword phrase with 9000+ exact match searches per month. Here's an example to better understand my question: 'Guitar training lessons'
My main competitor's domain is only 5 months old but it does have the full keyword phrase in it with '4u' added at the end: www.guitartraininglessons4u.com
I wanted to go with www.guitartrainingcenter.com (notice that 'lessons' is left out of the domain name) but i'm wondering if my main competitor would have a big advantage by having the full keyword phrase in his domain.
How much weight does google give to sites that have the exact search query in their domain name? Does a domain still qualify as 'exact match' if a word (info) is added to it? How much harder would it be to outrank this domain as apposed to a site that doesn't have the keywords in its domain name?
Thanks in advance
Freek
-
Generally speaking in my experience, EMD's are junk sites because usually the person is doing AdSense or something and the site has junk content w/ an EMD for page one rankings for the AdSense revenue. Just my thoughts, though.
-
A few years ago the boost for an exact match domain was significant. This positive signal has been devalued since then, but it is still a signal and for good reason. A quality domain can indicate a significant investment - not unlike thousands of pages of quality content. One signal of many.
A lot will depend on the competitiveness of the industry. Cellphone.com is a great domain, but it's in a competitive environment and the signal of the domain does not outweight all the many other strong quality indicators. I have seen many examples of where the domain name that is not an exact match, but still contains the keywords (such as your example) is not an indicator of quality. It's not necessarily lacking in quality either, but a signal boost it is not.
-
Much agree there. but GuitarLessonsCenter is not bad at all. GuitarLessonReviews would be great if all you plan on doing is reviews. It depends on what the niche is and why the site is created to do.
-
Because it's generally too limiting. It leaves little room for growth and having a brandable domain in my opinion is better.
My comment about a crap domain was in reference to a domain like www.GuitarLessonReviewsInfo.com or something. He was talking about those earlier, where people add-on some words because the EMD is taken but still want the phrase in there to get the EMD boost.
-
You are very welcome!
You could cover electric guitar reviews using "AcousticGuitarReviews.com" but why have a domain that implies you are only reviewing acoustic guitar reviews? To me, it makes more sense to build a brandable website!
With Google liking brands, it makes sense to build a brand and do things the white-hat way, this insures you don't fall off the map on every whimsical algo update, you know?
-
I disagree with not using an EMD. How is it crap if the metric goes away? As long as the EMD is descriptive and not spam, then it will be accurate and therefore always relevant.
-
Thanks for the detailed answer David. I do agree with you that in the long term, an EMD could tie you down to that particular keyword. If my main keyword is Acoustic Guitar Review and i buy acousticguitarreviews.com, i can't cover electric guitar reviews, because my domain name doesn't imply so...
I do hope google weighs down the importance of EMD's in the future, as some spammers use it to their advantage. I've heard people say they ranked for reasonably competitive keywords with just a domain that had a fresh wordpress install on it with only one article and and some backlinks...
-
WAY too much. I see exact domains ranking in the top 3 with hardly any site metrics. I always suggest getting one or two keywords in your TLD (top level domain) when it seems natural to do so. SEOsudo is mine which is how I add SEO into my TLD. (sudo is a UNIX command for Super User DO)
But more to your example. Yes, he would get a bit more over you when you have only 2 to his 3, but at this point, other metrics will play a stronger role.
I like your TLD name.
Richard
-
Nobody knows the exact boost you get, but I can assure you that it is quite significant. Very significant.
You will not get the full boost unless you have the entire keyword/phrase in the domain. So yes, your competitor would have an advantage over you. How much? No one knows for sure, but I will go out on a limb and say it's pretty substantial. You can beat EMD's but it requires a lot of links and a strategy that outperforms on every level.
Yes, it qualifies as exact match even if there are added words as long as the exact phrase appears in the domain.
It all depends on the keyword to determine how difficult it would be to outrank him without an EMD.
My advice? Don't use an EMD... they'll eventually take that boost away and you're left with a crap domain. Focus on high-quality content that is engaging and provides a ton of value. That will yield you better results in the long-term.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
My (properly optimised) webpage outscores page#1 ranked competitors on page/domain authority ... but I'm only on page#2\. Huh?
I'm puzzled. I've optimised a particular page for a particular search term, and the SEOMoz tool gives me an A for on-page optimisation. So no problem there. I can understand why my webpage/site is being outranked by pages from (for example) the Guardian and Oxford University, but there are several sites that Google is ranking on page #1 though their page and domain scores are well below ours. Specifically: my page/domain authority scores are 46/52, compared with 22/46 for the competitor that Google is ranking #5 - yet we only rank a lowly #12. And it's not as though the particular page in question isn't an obvious and appropriate part of our site. We work with new writers and the page in question offers a selection of creative writing courses. It's not like we're a writing-related site that suddenly has a page advertising fake rolexes. It's not a timing issue either, as most of our links have been in place for a couple of years at least. So I'm puzzled. And concerned. This page of ours was a reliable revenue generator for us and it's dying out there on the page#2 wilderness. If anyone can help, I'd be massively grateful. I don't know if this is helpful, but the page in question is http://www.writersworkshop.co.uk/Creative-Writing-Courses.html and the search term is ... well, heck, you take a wild guess. We're a British firm, so the only search engine that really matters to us is google.co.uk
Competitive Research | | harrybingham0 -
Majestic gives me a 24 situation and 24 trust flow. Seomoz just a total number of 7\. How come the difference? My ranking is still bad, so is Majestic crawling faster then google?
Hi, my total domain value number on SEOmoz is 7. In Majestic it is 24 situation and 24 trust flow. My ranking is still bad (page2) and my competitors have a lower trust/ situation flow in Majestic. But in Seomoz the're better. Is the conclusion that Majestic is more up to date then Google itself and that Seomoz is more inline with the google crawling? Because Majestic doesnt reflect my ranking. (ps I started with the domain for a month, and I only have some history in registration)
Competitive Research | | remkoallertz0 -
Slight keyword variation domain name
I have recently changed a clients domain name from a long (23 characters) to a shorter domain name that has a keyword plus a single character variation. For example and without revealing the clients real domain name, let say they are in housing. Ithe first letter in the company name is "p" so i created the doamin name as www.phousing.com It has only been two days since i submitted the new domain name and did a 301 redirect to the new page. When i do a google search i get back the result: housing.com and "did you mean housing.com Will this domain name cause me problems? Any input is greatly appreciated!
Competitive Research | | WebbyNabler0 -
Advice on using google analytics and webmaster tools....for noobs?
I was wondering if anyone could suggest any resources on how to use GA and webmaster tools? I just sort of look and see my stats, etc...but I'd like to learn how to find my low hanging fruit, and try to help it rank better. I don't really use those tools as well as I should. I know there various spreadsheet's you can use, etc, but I haven't found a good (and easy to understand) resource that helps you learn how to use those tools together well. Thanks
Competitive Research | | NoahsDad0 -
Use abbreviations for domains?
hi, can i use abbreviations for domain, if i want to purchase a long keyword domain like 29 characters? abbreviations are good for SEO or GOOGLE appreciate it or not? and use that keyword in description of the site or title of the site need your help..
Competitive Research | | parallelseo0 -
Root Domain Metrics Stagnant for 3 weeks now
We are doing a Competitive Domain Analysis for a client and 2 of their competitors. The results from the Root Domain Metrics have been ok from the past months where in the results we are getting changes every time the website is re-crawled by SEOMOZ to update its analysis. However, in the past few weeks, the results we are getting for the Root Domain Metrics have remained the same even after three weeks. We have attempted a separate Open Site Explorer analysis for the client and their competitors but be are getting the same results. From the "Domain Authority" to the "No Followed Linking Root Domains", the results have remained the same for three weeks. Could anything be affecting the results or is it just the fact that the links have not changed (not a single one, for three websites) in the past three weeks. Hope you can help me clarify my issue. Thanks!
Competitive Research | | TheNorthernOffice790 -
Understanding Competitive Domain Analysis
I'm finding this site great for getting at the information that I need but I am having trouble understanding what I see as conflicting Competitive Domain Analysis and keyword research results for companies in my sector. My company is new to the sector we are in and I am tracking two really well established leaders (Moma and Poppa bear) and one company that is new to the sector (baby Bear) too. When looking at the competitive domain analysis the Momma and Poppa Bear wipe the floor with baby bear (and of course me!) on every single criteria; but when I see who is actually ranking best for the most competitive keywords for our sector who wins...baby bear; I just dont understand it. What is the reason for the disparity between the domain analysis and actual performance? Many thanks, Sinead
Competitive Research | | YGF0 -
Is it valuable for a local business to build links into its Google Place?
G'Day All, Almost all of my clients are geo-based small service-based businesses. I've noticed during my research that the google places for our competitors in 3 separate niches (3 different clients) seem to be the dominating results for almost all relevant keyword terms. I'm curious to see if anyone has actively tried to increase the ranking of a google place by building links into it. Is this something that anyone else sees value to for a local small business? I would love to get some thoughts. And for that matter I'm also curious to see if anyone thinks there might be value to optimizing a Facebook Fan Page or Yelp Business page. They all seem to be key drivers of traffic our client websites so I'm wondering how difficult it is to make them rank as opposed to a website. Thanks!
Competitive Research | | blahblahblah20150